Casa Padre

Casa Padre
Location 3449,7480 Padre Island Hwy, Brownsville, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates 25°56′33.6″N 97°25′26.2″W / 25.942667°N 97.423944°W / 25.942667; -97.423944
Status open
Opened March 2017[1]

Casa Padre is a holding center for detained boys in custody of the U.S. immigration authorities, located in Brownsville, Texas. The building was formerly a Walmart store. The center is run by the nonprofit group Southwest Key Program under contract from the federal government. Casa Padre is the largest immigration detention center in the United States, housing approximately 1,500 youths.[2][3] According to the Internal Revenue Service, the group houses approximately 5,129 immigrant children in the United States. [4][5] On June 3, 2018, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley was denied entrance to the Casa Padre facility as part of his investigation into the living conditions of the children. The recorded exchange between Merkley and the employees of the facility was uploaded to YouTube and was shared 1.1 million times.[6]

Reaction

On June 3, 2018, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley attempted to gain entrance to the detention facility to which the site manager refused and called the police. The six minute video recording of the event became viral being shared approximately 1.1 million times. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi condemned both the detention facility and the Trump Administration's controversial immigration policies, stating, "This is barbaric. This is not what America is. But this is the policy of the Trump administration."Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stated his disapproval of the Trump Administration's policy towards separating children from their parents. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma tweeted, "I am asking the White House to keep families together as much as we can."[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Closed Wal-Mart in Brownsville to Reopen as Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors". KRGV.com. ABC News. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. ↑ Reigstad, Leif (June 20, 2018). "Southwest Key Hired Child Case Manager Previously Arrested for Child Pornography". Texas Monthly. The 250,000-square-foot Casa Padre facility where Padron worked currently houses nearly 1,500 boys, ages ten through seventeen, and is expanding in expectation of a wave of more children.
  3. ↑ Gonzales, Richard; Burnett, John. "'These Are Not Kids Kept In Cages': Inside A Texas Shelter For Immigrant Youth". NPR.org. NPR. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Miller, Michael E.; Brown, Emma; Davis, Aaron C. (2018-06-14). "Inside Casa Padre, the converted Walmart where the U.S. is holding nearly 1,500 immigrant children". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  5. ↑ "Inside the former Walmart holding 1,500 immigrant children in Texas". CBS News. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  6. ↑ Quito, Anne. "A prison or a summer camp? Wildly different spins on the Casa Padre child immigrant center". Quartz. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  7. ↑ Burnett, John; Gonzales, Richard. "'These Are Not Kids Kept In Cages': Inside A Texas Shelter For Immigrant Youth". NPR.org. NPR. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
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